Professional Development Courses That Are Worth Your Time

You may have heard or read a lot of the buzz around professional development courses. Professional development is never a bad idea. Whether you’re an employee or a manager, these courses can help you or your team improve skills, productivity, and return on investments. Some professional development courses are more worth your time than others out there. Read on to learn how these courses can improve your digital marketing strategies, competitive advantage, communication skills, and more.

If you’re an employee or if you’re currently searching for a job, professional development courses are one way to level up your skills, gain certifications, and show companies how you will improve the organization. The skills you refine and the knowledge you gain will also help you become more effective at your job or the jobs you are searching.

If you’re a manager or a small business owner, you may want to check out professional development courses for your team or for yourself. Perhaps your marketing efforts are effective, but there are ways you could be improving and new strategies and trends you want to practice.

Committing yourself to professional development doesn’t have to mean going back to school or devoting all of your free time to lessons. Now there are a variety of online courses and some are even free.

Skills You Can Practice with Professional Development Courses

-SEO

-Content Creation

-Social Media Marketing

-Time Management & Productivity

-Software

-Business Management

-Design

-Programming

-Analytics

-Microsoft Excel

-Coding

-Advertising

-Copyediting

-Team Leadership

The following are some of the websites that offer courses taught online where you can develop these skills. We’ve also included some examples of courses on these websites.

Online Marketing Institute

This website offers courses for both individuals or corporate teams. Courses are organized by topic. For example, lessons under Consumer Brand include topics like best practices for Twitter, collaborations with influencers, and working with brand advocates. The video tutorials are taught by experts in the industry. You can even get Digital Marketing Certified on this website.

Lynda

Lynda offers more than 6,000 courses for learning in a variety of areas, such as Business, Design, Web Development, IT, and more. Under Small Business Marketing, you’ll find topics like email marketing and using Instagram for a small business. Another helpful area is Project Management with courses on Basecamp and how to delegate tasks to a team.

Photo Credit: httpss://www.lynda.com/

Google Academy for Ads

When trying to improve your Search Engine Optimization and your website’s performance on Google, go to the source itself. Google offers a few different online learning platforms, including Google Ads and Analytics Academy. Set yourself apart by learning tracking, how to interpret reports, and how to use analysis tools. In Analytics Academy, you can earn a certification and assess your learning.

Code School

If web development is your area of interest, then another website to check out is Code School. Code School has lessons and tutorials on HTML, JavaScript, Android, Python, iOS, and more. The training involves watching video lessons, practicing your new skills, and earning a course completion badge.

Photo Credit: httpss://www.codeschool.com/

Hubspot Academy

When it comes to online marketing and social media platforms, Hubspot Academy is a powerful resource. Hubspot’s learning resources include certifications in areas like marketing, sales, software, and design. The Content Marketing certification offers 10 classes designed to teach marketers how to produce effective content to generate leads, learn best practices, get results at your company, generate ideas for content, and how to analyze content. Hubspot Academy also has exams to test your knowledge.

Udacity

The website Udacity offers cutting-edge Nanodegree programs that will increase your impact in the business world. It was originally founded by two instructors at Stanford. Their Predictive Analytics for Business Nanodegree program teaches how to recognize patterns and use data to solve problems and make business decisions. The website also has programs on self-driving cars and artificial intelligence.

Coursera

Coursera makes education accessible to everyone at affordable prices. The courses are taught by university instructors in areas like computer science, data science, information technology, etc. In the Business Strategy course, students learn management, how to harness competitive advantage, and go over business cases from real companies. Students complete Capstone Projects and can earn course certificates. The website also offers Specializations for developing career skills.

As you explore and dedicate time to professional development courses, be sure to implement and market your new skills and knowledge.

Square 1 Group is a dedicated team of web development professionals that craft websites, develop online marketing strategies, provide maintenance and support, and offer content creation. Our products and services are customized and personalized for each of our clients. Contact us today for a consultation.